


Longing

by raggamuffin44



Category: The Mandalorian (TV)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, F/M, Paz kinda likes the reader, but Din kinda swoops in and she falls for him
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-13
Updated: 2020-05-13
Packaged: 2021-03-02 18:41:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,412
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24161497
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/raggamuffin44/pseuds/raggamuffin44
Summary: Paz stumbles upon you in danger, and brings you to the covert to help you, and you end up staying for a while in the covert. You meet Mando briefly but you're both intrigued by one another, and certain circumstances lead to you meeting again.
Relationships: Din Djarin/Reader, Mandalorian/Reader, Paz Vizla/Reader (kinda), The Mandalorian (The Mandalorian TV)/Reader
Comments: 1
Kudos: 59





	Longing

**Author's Note:**

> This is set between episodes 1-3, and there are some direct quotes from the show, as if the reader was there watching some bits go down.

You’d been involved in a shady deal that had you unwittingly cross paths with a remnant Imperial on Nevarro. After a nasty fight with a hoard of stormtroopers, you’d barely managed to escape, running as far as your legs could take you before dragging yourself into an alleyway and leaning on a wall, sliding yourself down to the ground. You gripped your side, where a steady flow of blood was staining your clothes and now your hand. You’d been beaten up pretty badly, bruises and cuts littering your face. In your escape, a few of the troopers blaster shots had grazed you, the one on your side giving you the most trouble at the moment.

You’re fumbling through your travel medpac when you hear footsteps approaching, and you turn to face them and ready your blaster, waiting for the stormtroopers to find you, when you hear movement from behind you and you turn to find a heavily armoured Mandalorian emerging from a doorway covered with a long curtain of fabric. He had a blaster pointed at you, and you raised your arms instinctively, hissing as you moved your hand from your side.

“Please don’t shoot.” You pant and put your own blaster on the ground as a show of good faith when he doesn’t budge, “There are troopers after me, I just needed a minute to rest. _Please._ I just need to clean this wound and then I’ll be gone.” You noticed the smallest movement of his helmet, likely him surveying you and making his mind up about whether to believe you. Then he lowered his blaster and you let out a sigh of relief, dropping your hands to your lap.

“ _Thank you._ ” You huff and put your blaster in its holster before digging through your medpac again, when you notice the Mandalorian coming over to you and extending a hand out to you.

“I can help you. Keep you out of sight for a while, if you’d like.” The deep voice rumbles through the modulator in his helmet, and you’re not entirely sure why but you took his hand and let him pull you to stand.

He walked you over to the curtain and helped you down the stairs that were behind it. As he walked you down the corridor, you noticed other Mandalorians watching you, hands ready on their weapons. He led you to a quiet alcove where he helped you up onto a bench and grabbed a medpac, quietly asking you to remove your shirt. It was painful, but you lifted the shirt over your head and he got to work cleaning the wound and applying a bacta patch. Despite his large stature and heavy armour, he was surprisingly gentle in his actions as he dealt with the other grazes you’d acquired from the troopers, before speaking again, voice much softer this time.

“What happened to you?” He asked as he finished cleaning the scratches littering your face.

“I was part of a deal that went south, and I got captured by some Imps, and my crew left me here. I barely managed to escape the troopers, I’m sure they’re still out there looking for me.”

“Where will you go once you escape them?”

“...I don’t know. I’m a drifter. My crew picked me up a few years ago, and they were like a family to me, but I guess they had enough of me.” your voice wavered as the image of the ship lifting off without you played in the front of your mind.

He hummed in response as he put the medpac away, before giving a sharp “Wait here.” as he walked away and down the tunnel. You sat there, swinging your legs slightly from where you were sat atop the bench. You looked down at your side, admiring his handiwork, already starting to feel a little bit better thanks to the bacta. You were sat there in silence a little nervously for a good 10 minutes before you heard the thumping of his footsteps back down the tunnel, and he reappeared.

He came to stand in front of you, handing you a loose shirt since your old one was now ruined, and you looked up into the visor of his helmet as you shucked it on, “If you want to, my tribe has agreed that you may stay here in the covert until the Imperial hold on Nevarro loosens.” his deep voice echoes in the room, and it takes you a second to react to what he’s offering.

“Why?” is all you’re able to mutter.

“We don’t like the Imps any more than you do. Hopefully soon enough, the hold on this city will soften, and we can take them out, and you’ll be free to go about your life, without fear.”

“It’s very kind of you to offer, but I-”

“This is the way.” he speaks bluntly and begins to walk away, gesturing for you to follow him.

You’d been living in the covert for a few weeks when you first met Din. While you’re the closest with the Mandalorian who you’ve since learned is named Paz (though you must not use the name unless you are just with him, he tells you), you spend a lot of your days with the Armorer. You find her fascinating, and she doesn’t mind having you sat in the armory watching her for most of the day. A lot of the other Mandalorians don’t really know what to do with you around. You offered to keep your face covered if it made them more comfortable, but the Armorer told you it wasn’t necessary. You haven’t sworn the Creed, they’re simply hosting you until it is safe for you to return to your normal life. Still, most of the tribe keeps their distance from you.

Sometimes she will tell you stories of Mandalore, and you hang onto every word she says. You’re in the middle of listening to one when a new figure appears in the archway of the armory, placing his rifle against the wall. You haven’t seen this Mandalorian before, but his presence is immediately commanding. He passes a quick glace over you before he moves to sit down, and somehow the glare from his visor is more intimidating than the dozens you see on a daily basis. Once the Armorer joins him, he places an ingot on the table.

“This was gathered in the Great Purge.” the Armorer spoke, and you recalled her telling you about the Purge briefly, realising the ingot must be Beskar.

The two conversed briefly, but you were too focused on this new figure to pay attention to what was spoken. The Armorer stood and began to forge the steel, and you watched as the man’s body tensed while she worked. Once the new pauldron is attached, not many more words are exchanged before the man leaves once again. He does, however, give one more glance at you before he disappears.

You don’t see him again for another week or so. In the meantime, Paz offered to train you in some combat, preparing you for life once it’s safe to leave the covert. He’s surprised by your strength and agility, and he finds himself greatly enjoying your company. He has to pull his punches a little, since he’s heavily armored and you aren’t, but he is impressed with your tenacity, and your skill doesn’t need much honing.

When the mysterious Mandalorian returns, you are once again in the armory. He is flanked by several other tribe members as he sits at the table with the camtono full of Beskar, and more trail afterwards as he and the Armorer discuss what she will forge. You don’t pay much attention to them until Paz walks in, and immediately reaches for an ingot.

“These were cast in an Imperial smelter,” he scoffs, “These are the spoils of the Great Purge... The reason we live hidden like sand rats.”

He looks pointedly down at his fellow Mandalorian, before the Armorer begins speaking again, “Our secrecy is our survival, and our survival is out strength.”

Paz grows more irritated, “Our _strength_ was once in our numbers. Now we live in the shadows and only come above ground one at a time.”

He turns back to the silent Mandalorian, “Our world was shattered by the Empire, with whom this _coward_ shares tables.” before grabbing his helmet. A scuffle ensues, and you can only sit and watch as the pair fight, pulling their vibroblades on one another.

You’re too focused on the newcomer to fully listen to the exchange occurring, only snapping back to reality once you hear a chorus of voices exclaim “This is the Way.”

Paz repeats the sentiment individually as he lowers his knife, and the newcomer follows suit. The tension in the air is palpable as the newcomer sits once again and continues discussing the Beskar with the Armorer. His voice has such intrigue in it, and you can’t help but stare at the man. You notice his helmet tilt towards you almost imperceptibly on a few occasions, and you avert your gaze when it does so. Paz notices this too, and you see his posture straighten.

The rest of the tribe leaves once the Armorer begins her work, but you remain in your spot, too intrigued by this Mandalorian to leave. The Armorer makes quick work of the forging, and he is soon outfitted with a new set of armor. He gives his thanks to the Armorer and leaves. In the same manner as before, he turns to look at you briefly before walking away and you’d kill to know what he was thinking. You make your way back to the small alcove where you’ve been given a place to sleep and you lie down to think about the mysterious bounty hunter. Little did you know, as he made his way back to his ship, he thought of you too. He was entranced by you, and confused as to why you were among his people in their covert. He thought of you constantly the whole time he’d been away on the bounty, and he still couldn’t get you out of his mind now.

After a while, you hear the familiar thump of Paz’s armor down the tunnel and he appears.

“Why don’t you like that guy?” you ask him quietly.

“He’s reckless. He's not one to steer away from trouble, and now he takes work from Imps. He endangers our tribe.” Paz’s stern voice reverberates in the small alcove, and you only nod sheepishly in reply, before turning around and attempting to go to sleep.

You’re awoken not even an hour later by a cacophony of noise from the tunnels. There is chaos in the covert as they discover the Mandalorian from earlier went back for his bounty and is now having a stand-off with the Guild in the middle of town. Despite Paz’s earlier sentiment about the other Mandalorian being reckless, the tribe comes together to help him, knowing he must have stolen the bounty back and broken the Guild Code for a good reason.

While the tribe prepares for a battle, you grab your blaster and head up the stairs to the street, slowly peeling the curtain back and emerging, finding your way to the town’s entrance. The Mandalorian is hidden in a speeder, as several Guild members fire at him. In the frenzy, you manage to sneak your way towards the town gate unnoticed. 

Suddenly, the tribe emerges and start to take out the Guild members. You decide it’s now or never, and you start shooting too, taking down a few more of the Guild as you near the gate. You watch as Paz lands, firing at the bounty hunters as he turns to the Mandalorian and shouts something at him. The two speak briefly, but you can’t hear over the blaster fire. You do, however, notice the man who was shouting at the Mandalorian a minute ago, and he’s running towards a ship you assume is the Mandalorian’s, and you bolt after him. You board the ship after him and he appears out of nowhere and pushes you, knocking you to the ground. He grabs you roughly and pulls you to one side, keeping a hand over your mouth as you try to escape his hold.

You hear approaching footsteps, and the Mandalorian climbs the ramp and walks into his ship, unaware you’re here. Suddenly, you’re being walked forward and the man aims his blaster at the Mandalorian.

“Mando!” he shouts, and the Beskar-clad Mandalorian turns around slowly, and you see a slight flinch in his helmet upon seeing you too.

“I didn’t want it to come to this. But then _you_ broke the Code.”

Before you can even comprehend, a carbonite freezer sets off and the hull of the ship is filled with fog. The man pushes you forward roughly and blindly shoots his blaster, before he’s knocked back and down the ramp.

“Are you going back out there or coming with me?” he addresses you for the first time as the fog clears.

“Let me come with you. I can help.” you pant, the adrenaline still coursing through you.

He nods in response and closes the ramp, scaling the ladder quickly and starting the lift-off procedures. You slowly climb the ladder and get your first good look of the bounty that all this trouble had been over. From the few seconds you spent looking at it, you could understand why the Mandalorian sat in front of you couldn’t let it stay in the hands of remnant Imperials.

You watched and gave a meek wave as Paz appeared beside the ship and gave a double-take when he saw you sat in the co-pilot seat, before saluting and flying away, the man in front of you muttering about ‘getting one of those’.

You felt bad about leaving Paz without saying a proper thank you for all the help he’d provided in the last few weeks, but as you watched the Mandalorian unscrew the handle of a lever and hand it to the small green creature before you, you were optimistic about what the future offered for you on this ship with this mysteriously odd pair. Din himself was thinking the same. He knew life was going to be difficult for him now but the thought of having you, in all your mystery, would at least make it a little interesting.


End file.
